Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Makes New Investment in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 119,437 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $6,464,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $116,000. FMR LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,650,492 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $120,995,000 after buying an additional 243,302 shares during the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA increased its stake in Williams Companies by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 175,294 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $8,002,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 103.1% in the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 24,915 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,137,000 after acquiring an additional 12,647 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 551,136 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $25,159,000 after acquiring an additional 37,379 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WMB shares. Truist Financial raised their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $56.07.

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Williams Companies Trading Up 1.0 %

WMB stock traded up $0.58 on Monday, hitting $59.77. 8,266,848 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,500,109. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.18 and a twelve month high of $61.67. The business's fifty day moving average is $57.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.60.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. This is a boost from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Company Profile

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.